County supervisors may decide as early as Tuesday to release the report of a private attorney’s investigation of alleged wrongdoing within the Assessor’s Office.

Third District Supervisor Neil Derry said Board of Supervisors members are scheduled to get the report Tuesday when the board meets in closed session. He plans to make a motion to release to the public.

“I think there’s support to do so, but we don’t know until the vote’s taken,” Derry said.

Former Assessor Bill Postmus, once a rising star in San Bernardino County politics, allegedly used the elective Assessor’s Office as a political shop.

Supervisors hired Los Angeles-based attorney John Hueston in January to figure out the county’s option’s to oust Postmus after the then-Assessor was arrested on suspicion of methamphetamine possession.

Hueston previously served as the federal government’s lead prosecutor in the Enron case.

Postmus, who has confessed having a methamphetamine problem, resigned in February. Hueston’s investigation became an examination of alleged misdeeds within the Assessor’s office after Postmus left office.

But as to publicity of the report, there is a question of timing. Assistant District Attorney Jim Hackleman said District Attorney’s officials would prefer that the report not be released until investigators can complete a separate criminal probe of the Assessor’s Office.

“As in any investigation, we’d prefer the details of an investigation not be made public until the investigation is complete,” Hackleman said. “That is because we don’t want witness statements to be influenced.”

Hackleman said the District Attorney’s Office supports the eventual release of the report.

Fourth District Supervisor Gary Ovitt’s spokesman said that Ovitt wants the public to eventually be able to see the document but is mindful of prosecutors’ concerns.

“Gary wants to get it out as fast as he possibly can, but he does not want to jeopardize the investigation,” Ovitt spokesman Burt Southard said.

Andrew Edwards is part of the Southern California News Group's business team and focuses on housing stories for the Inland Empire. He's based at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and has also worked for publications including the Long Beach Press-Telegram and The San Bernardino Sun. He graduated from UCLA in 2003 after studying political science and history.